Mama, I'm coming home a YGATC side story
by armydude
Summary: People change when they come home. Just ask Maya ShinjixMaya


I was listening to the radio on the way home, heard this song and the story crashed into my brain, nearly complete. This will definitely be a one-shot. Maybe? Who knows?

Upon our return to the United States from my first tour in Afghanistan, the song they played while we exited the plane was 'Mama, I'm coming home' by Ozzy Osborne. I have no idea what Ozzy was thinking when he did the song, but the line "Here I come, but I ain't the same." strikes a chord inside almost every Combat Veteran. Mostly because it's so true.

I suggest you listen to the song while reading this, starting from the appearance of 'The Pest'

**********

Seven months. It had been seven long, hot, freezing, grinding, grueling months. But it was worth it. He had learned so much. Changed so much. Gone was the skinny little geek. Oh he was still a geek, and he most likely would never be very big. But whereas before he had been skinny, not any more. You couldn't tell it from his duty uniform, but the dress uniform was a different story. He was now in the best shape of his life. Uncountable pushups, innumerable situps, running more then 800 km (500 miles) in the heat, rain, cold, any weather condition, had all conspired to change a small, skinny boy into a very lean young man. He really wasn't any taller but you couldn't tell it. It was the way he stood. Erect, tall, proud.

After he arrived home on leave, his father took one look at the issue dress uniform and hurriedly loaded him into the car for a ride to the base clothing store. Finding the tailor, he had the woman take measurements for a new set. Knowing his son had plans, he even slipped the tailor some extra bills to have the uniform ready before close of business the next day.

For the first time in their lives, father and son were able to exchange "War Stories". There were differences of course. Because where the father had become an Officer first, the son had enlisted as a Private. But there were enough similarities that the two had common ground. Drill Sergeants, goofballs screwing up, barracks, weapons training. Good time, bad times, the pain of 12 mile road marches with 40 lbs and a weapon, the sheer joy of hitting a target at 300 meters with hard sights. The utter disgust of mask training in the gas chamber. It seemed there was always a tree right in the path of the exit door to the chamber. And it never failed, someone always ran into it.

Near the end of high school, he had made a joke to one of his friends about his "Job" in the Army. But the joke had become a reality. Because of his grades and skill in English, he had been selected to attend a course in the United States, at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. He had been sent to the Chemical Warfare Training Center. The premier NBC warfare school in the world.

To graduate, he had, had to function in a chemical environment. With live nerve agents. A substance that was so toxic, a single drop on exposed skin would, not could, would kill. And not just function, but think. And a mistake on his or someone else's part could have easily landed them in the base hospital with an atropine injector in the thigh.

That had been two months ago, after that he had been sent to Fort Benning, Georgia to undergo the most physically challenging event of his short life. Airborne training. And as scared as he had been in the CWTC back at 'Lost in the Woods, Misery' that was nothing compared to jumping out of a perfectly good aircraft.

But he had excelled, made his five jumps and graduated. Now he was allowed to wear the coveted jump wings of the United States Army. One of only a select few in the entire JSDF. He was scheduled to go the JSDF equivalent in three weeks to earn his Japanese wings.

From Fort Benning, he had been sent to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, for Air Assault training. This made more sense to him. Rather then drifting to the Earth with a random chance having a part in your landing, sliding down on a rope gave you a better chance of not being hurt. And once again he completed the course and earned his Air Assault Wings.

He had spent a few days of his leave with his father, then boarded a train to the city of Kyoto. Reporting the base he only partially checked in. Just enough to have a place to sleep and leave his gear. Climbing into his bunk that night he reviewed his plans. He knew the targets schedule, where to make the intercept, timeline. Certain it would go off like clockwork, he drifted to sleep.

Getting up the next morning, he dressed in the new dress uniform his father had purchased for him. Finding an understanding NCO he got help to make sure it was perfect. The Sergeant looked askance at the U.S. Jump and Air Assault Wings, but after showing the Sergeant the orders for the awards, all he got was a "You lucky bastard"

Once the uniform was perfect, he set his cover on his head and headed out into the morning. He had a meeting to attend at Kyoto University.

**********

Classes were going well. The only down side to college was having to walk to every class. September, October, and November had been beautiful. December had started off cold though. She had talked to Ryo in Nagasaki last night and Kyouko over the weekend. She hadn't heard from Kaname since they parted at the train station, but had heard through Ky she was doing well. She had talked to Onodera once when he was visiting Ky. Ren called her about once a week, letting her know she was well and school at Todai was hard (duh!). Shinji never called and only wrote her infrequently letting her know he hadn't forgotten about her or his promise. Airborne training!?!? What was he thinking, that's dangerous.

She hadn't heard from him in about two weeks though and that wasn't unusual. Having some lunatic screaming at you at 4:30 in the morning, then running you 3, 4, 5, 9 miles before breakfast didn't leave a lot of time to write. So she understood why he didn't write often and cherished the letters he did send. They were time he took out of an already overfull day or away from sleep he might desperately need to let her know she was in his thoughts.

Walking through the quad she was heading to the cafeteria for lunch. Hearing her name called she looked over her shoulder to see 'The Pest' Naga Yoshi. He had been hitting on her trying to get a date ever since she arrived. She kept walking hoping 'The Pest' would FINALLY get the message. It wasn't to be though.

"How're you doing? Listen, I get these great tickets to a concert on the 28th. You wanna go?"

Sigh "No Naga-san, I don't, I have to get to the caf if I want to get a good seat. Bye!"

Yoshi grabbed her by the upper arm halting her progress. "Come'on babe, don't be like that it'll be great."

Now Naga Yoshi was a fair sized young man for a Japanese, standing close to 178 cm (5'10"). So imagine the surprise when a hand reached up and grabbed the junction between the shoulder and neck, just it had been trained, and started to squeeze, with the strength of someone that can pull their own body weight plus equipment up a rope or a set lanyards. And a mild, yet authoritative voice said, "I think the lady doesn't wants your company. I suggest you leave." and squeezed harder.

Yoshi went to his knees as the blinding pain increased. "AGGGGGGG, Alright, Alright, I'll go."

The hand released him and the mild voice said "Good, have a pleasant day."

She watched 'The Pest' scurrying away for the first time. Looking over at the young Soldier that had solved the problem and said, "Thank you." There was something familiar about him.

With a smirk the Soldier aped his high school friend. "It's not a problem. I overheard you were heading to the Chow Hall, right. May I buy you a cup of tea." Hearing the familiar quip, she blinked.

"No, no thank you, I'll just pick something up and head back to the dorms."

"Are you sure, Maya-chan." he asked with a soft affectionate tone

With a perplexed look, she said, "Excuse me."

Still with the smirk "I know seven months is a while, but I didn't think you'd forget me."

Standing in front of her was a handsome young Soldier, with ribbons and medals on his chest. He was lean and you could tell that although he didn't have huge bulging muscles, he was rock hard. Barely her height he seemed to tower over her by the way he stood. He had the short 'High and Tight' haircut required by the Army. She had seen enough ROTC on campus to recognize the rank as Private First Class.

Then she saw the eyes, they had changed, and yet they hadn't. They had a hardness to them now that wasn't there before. But the compassion never left, nor the courage. The courage of a skinny boy willing to risk his life to protect her and her friend against a couple of thugs. They later found out the robbers had knives, but the skinny boy didn't know that, and he charged them with only a couple of cans of soup and a stick.

And suddenly she was breathless. The last time she had seen those eyes was just after a kiss in front of a train to take the skinny boy away. And with a tremulous voice, she whispered, "Shinji?"

With a grin he answered "It's good to see ya, Maya-chan."

She screamed, dropped her books and launched herself at the Soldier. "SHINJI!"

Holding her there on the quad with his head in her hair, he told her, "I kept my promises, both of them."

Pulling back she stuttered, "Whwhwhere are you stationed."

"Just outside of Kyoto, like I promised."

She looked at him and could detect no deceit or guile in him. In all the time she had known him, something he could never do was lie. And she had been right eight months ago. Uniforms had a tendency to make a young man look goooooood.

"YES!" She kissed him hard in the middle of the quad, so hard it took both of their breath away. She didn't care that people were looking at them.

Kazama Shinji had come home.

A.N

One of my reviewers Tabasc0 mentioned "I bow to your soundtrack selection skills" and that's exactly how I look at the songs I choose for the stories. I consider it as the "Soundtrack of our lives" Think about it, a song can instantly transport you back to your freshman year in high school. Or remind you of your first crush, first kiss, first lover. Friends you haven't seen in 5, 10, 15 years. Chances lost and chances taken. The Beatles 'Can't buy me love' always takes me back to Santa Cruz California and Holly Compton. My first real crush. I haven't seen her since 1982. And I've always wondered what happened to her.

I have a really hard time listening to three songs in particular, not including 'Taps'. 'Amazing Grace', 'Landslide' by Stevie Nicks and 'You can't always get what you want' by the Rolling Stones. These were the songs my mother requested for her funeral. And every time I hear them I am reminded of her.

I had the first two chapters of the next story "The Animal I Have Become" completed when the laptop was stolen, along with my PDA and data sticks containing the name, address, phone number and e-mail of every single Soldier and civilian I knew. Also every single picture from Forts Wainwright and Richardson Alaska, Fort Campbell Kentucky, Fort Benning Georgia, Fort Leonard Wood Missouri, Fort Polk Louisiana, Fort Irwin California, Fort Lewis Washington, Afghanistan, Iraq, Japan, Germany, my children and family I had. Pictures of my mother, God Rest Her Soul. My entire life was on those devices. May the thieves burn in the deepest hell. I am working on recreating the chapters now. Since I only have to recreate them it should go quickly.


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